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Royal Nonesuch wrote:Really? It's that hard to get anything from any random issue of this comic?

It's a quintessential sequential comic. It is one part of an ongoing serial story. There will be a recap that will mean almost nothing to you.

It is the same as trying to watch an episode of a Soap Opera that has been going on since the beginning of time.

The success of the book has to do with a unique publishing scheme that puts trades out near the publication of the next issue allowing trade waiters to catch up and word of mouth spreading the word... the television show only magnified this.

Royal Nonesuch wrote:Really? It's that hard to get anything from any random issue of this comic?

Not exactly, I guess if you have no intention of ever reading the series in its entirely.. This is one of the few books where I would myself go out of my way to avoid spoilers. In fact, besides getting hooked, one of the reasons I plowed through almost 70 issues in a weekend was that with the TV show and all the discussions I was having trouble avoiding them.

"Being offended is not to be confused with a state of grace; it’s the occasional price we all pay for living in an open society." -- Ian McEwan

With that said, I loved this issue. Things were happening and I missed the flat out action, as much as I love character development. I enjoyed how the living actually banded together, got over their fear, and destroyed the zombies. The art was fine and I'm anxious to read what's happening next.

What I didn't like is how Rick had to reconfirm that the dead weren't the biggest threat; the living were. I think that lesson would have been ingrained in his head since the living killed his wife and unborn child and several of his friends. I don't buy his being 'surprised' by that fact when talking to Carl.

Also, I realize that Carl living would be great for the book, but I couldn't care less personally if he dies. Maybe it's the nature of the book, where characters you've come to cherish are killed without warning, but I've grown apathetic towards Carl. Now if it were Michonne or Glen.. then I'd be bummed.

4/5 - Not the greatest book of all time in the series, but definitely a very solid entry in the run.

Do you know what the most frightening thing in the world is?It's fear.

For six years (I started reading the book in November of 2005 with the publication of the first Omnibus), The Walking Dead has been one of my favorite reads. In fact, for about two years afterward, I acted like Greg and gobbled up every horror comic I could. Some, like Crawl Space: XXXombies were great, others not so much.

It’s been a hell of a fun ride too. The book, for me, works best in the monthly publication. I know that I tore through the Omnibus and the issues that I had stockpiled to that date in one sitting and loved it, but then I was introduced to the real power of the serial nature of what a comic is supposed to be. Kirkman has magically ended each issue with a cliff hanger ripe for speculation for sometime usually not shorter than four weeks (and sometimes quite longer). Other books that I loved have suffered from delays… I have yet to read the most recent issue of Bad Dogs, which was one of my favorites when it started two years ago. Walking Dead never lost my interest… I had to know what would happen in the next issue and when it wasn’t a true “WHAT THE FUCK” moment like #83’s shocking ending, it has had the kind of subtle cliffhanger of this issue. There is no dangling over a cliff with a cheesy be back next week same Zombie Channel, same Zombie Time.

Instead, there is the nagging that Rick is not right. He hasn’t been for some time. What was an interesting ensemble piece about survival has expertly shifted to a story of a man spiraling into insanity and it is just as interesting, if not more so from its powerful connect.

No, Kirkman isn’t the best dialogue writer in the business. No, he isn’t the tightest architect of a plot. He doesn’t wow with the faux science of a Fraction or a Hickman. What he is good at is a damn good yarn that makes you forget its own faults, makes you forget your own worries and transports you to a human drama implausible, but real all at the same time.

This issue does all of that as we watch the survivors do the impossible in town and see the fractures open wide in Rick’s mental status.

Adlard is one of the best artists working today. Like Sale with Loeb, he takes the average stories Kirkman provides for him and transcends them into a better story, a great story, for that he is perfect.

With that said, I loved this issue. Things were happening and I missed the flat out action, as much as I love character development. I enjoyed how the living actually banded together, got over their fear, and destroyed the zombies. The art was fine and I'm anxious to read what's happening next.

What I didn't like is how Rick had to reconfirm that the dead weren't the biggest threat; the living were. I think that lesson would have been ingrained in his head since the living killed his wife and unborn child and several of his friends. I don't buy his being 'surprised' by that fact when talking to Carl.

Also, I realize that Carl living would be great for the book, but I couldn't care less personally if he dies. Maybe it's the nature of the book, where characters you've come to cherish are killed without warning, but I've grown apathetic towards Carl. Now if it were Michonne or Glen.. then I'd be bummed.

4/5 - Not the greatest book of all time in the series, but definitely a very solid entry in the run.

I've been of the camp that Carl was going to take over the book for a while, now I am not so sure.

Also, I don't think Rick has ever said it, so maybe he held onto some hope that it was a wrong feeling to have... I would want to, otherwise it would be hard for me to want to form the type of community that he said he wants. Think about it for a second... if he trains all these people and someone decides they don't like his rules, shit gets real... so it is an interesting dichotomy in his thinking...

However, even taking your view on his stating it, we have to remember that Rick is BATSHIT crazy and it could just be one more rung in the ladder to a full on meltdown.